Week 9: The Second High Holy Day: an explanation.

Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox in the Weish hearth culture is called Alban Eilir, which means “Light of the Earth” and is one of 3 Welsh high days associated with springtime!  From this point forward days grow longer until their peak at Summer Solstice at Alban Hefin.

"Alban Eilir, at the point of balance between Imbolc and Beltane, is at the point of balance too between day and night, and it is a perfect time to open to the quality of balance in our own lives."- Nuinn, (http://www.druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-festivals/spring-equinox-alban-eilir)

While Imbolc gave us a hopeful beginning to the first stirring of springtime, Alban Eilir gives us a first official beginning to the season of growth and fertility.

In many Indo-European cultures, including Welsh, this is a time for focus on agriculture as the planting season was beginning. In Gaul Agricultural tools are blessed on this day and Agriculture and Weather gods such as Ambaxtonos and Taranis are honored. (Our Own Druidry, 64).
 
This would be the time to prep the land for tilling, bless seeds to ensure their growth, pray to deities of fertility to help with all areas of reproduction and life. The quickly breeding hare is associated with this holiday as a strong symbol of fertility, and we see this custom reflected today in the giving of Easter eggs by the Easter bunny. Hares in ancient times were once widely believed to be hermaphroditic, male one month and then female the next. This fascinating view of these creatures really fits with the Spring Equinox from a metaphorical stance, as the Equinoxes are a time of balance, between night and day, as well as masculine and feminine. 

​Neopagans celebrate Spring Equinox by blessing seeds, gardening, decorating eggs, and leaving offerings of milk and food for a variety of deities and to the land spirits who are responsible for overlooking the fertility of this land.